reinforcements

from espn's columnist john hollinger's blog:

Some other notes from Thursday night:

• A lot of Cleveland fans are upset that Rasheed Wallace didn't get called for an offensive foul on his winning shot for pushing off Varejao. Sorry, I'm not with you on that. Based on the replay I saw, Wallace may have been guilty. But Varejao makes it impossible to tell, because he's taken more dives than Jacques Costeau. Cry wolf that many times and you're bound to get burned eventually.

• Haven't seen much comment on this, but LeBron James made an incredible play to get in position to challenge Wallace after Varejao hit the floor; Wallace just made an even better shot, from nearly behind the backboard. Thursday night in general was perhaps the most active I've seen the King defensively.

• Maybe the NBA conspiracy theorists' take on this year's playoffs is that the league is trying to prove there's no conspiracy. With every incentive to set up a Cavs-Suns final, the two biggest officiating situations in the postseason thus far went against those very two teams. Not to mention a lottery that sent two hugely marketable rookies to the far corner of the country -- as opposed to, say, Boston and Chicago.

• To be fair, Pistons fans will probably point out that they're due a bit more luck in some respects in future games -- they won't go 9-for-19 from the line, for instance, and Tayshaun Prince's 1-for-19 shooting in Games 1 and 2 has to be considered a fluke.

SUCK IT

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=2882291&name=hollinger_john
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